This is one of the summaries of Al-Ṭighnarī’s treatise. However, in the manuscript catalogue of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, in which it is described and classified with this number, it is suggested that it could be the ‘Umdat al-ṭabīb, edited and partially translated by M. Asín¹, which shows that the cataloguer didn’t know either of these works or didn’t examine this manuscript².

After a few blank pages there is an unnumbered loose folio in very clear maghrebi script and oriental punctuation. It has 19 lines in total and it is entitled: faṣl fī ittijāḍ al-nārany. It recounts the story of the spell cast on the orange tree, one that Al-Ṭighnarī, based on Ibn Baṣṣāl, develops in detail³.

This is followed by a blank folio and then the summary of the Kitāb zuhrat al-bustān. The script, completely different to that in the first folio, is maghrebi, not very clear, without vocalization. There are a total of 116 folios, with 20 lines per page, though some have between 12 and 14. It is the work of at least three different copyists: fols. 1-33v, 34r-72r, 72v-74r; fols. 74v to the end of the manuscript are written in the same script as fols. 34-72. Headings are highlighted and there are some marginal notes. There is no page numbering from folio 11r.

This undated and anonymous copy is incomplete at the beginning and at the end. It follows the same thematic order of the other summaries, though it contains approximately half of the text, ending with the paragraph on planting the stones of the black plums, or ‘ojo de buey’. This paragraph is found in folio 55r in manuscript IV of the Municipal Archive of Cordoba, of the 114 it contains.

The state of the manuscript leaves much to be desired, as there are rather a lot of damp patches which sometimes make the text illegible. Also there are quite a few folios where the text is deficient on the lower inside part.

(translated from Carabaza Bravo, J. M., García Sánchez, E. & Llavero Ruiz, E. (1991). ‘Obras manuscritas de los geoponos andalusies (siglos X-XII)’, pp. 1123-24. In: Emilio Molina et al. (eds.). Homenaje al Profesor Jacinto Bosch Vila, vol. 2, pp. 1115-1132. Granada: Universidad de Granada).

Notes

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1	Asín Palacios, M. (1943). Glosario de voces romances registradas por un botánico anónimo hispano-musulmán (siglos XI-XII). Madrid-Granada.
2	According to the author of this manuscript catalogue, “In spite of the identification ‘Ṭighnari’, by Colin, on the cover this text must be the anonymous work entitled ‘Umdat al-ṭabīb, 18th C.”. In the same catalogue there is another ms., no. 7023, attributed to Ḥamdūn al-Ishbīlī al-Andalusī Abū ‘Abd Allāh and bearing the title Zahr al-bustān wa-nuzhat al-adhhān, that is, the treatise by Al-Ṭighnarī. It has not been possible to obtain a microfilm of this due to its advanced state of deterioration.
3	Cfr. Kitāb Zuhrat al-bustān, ms. no. IV of the Municipal Archive of Cordoba, fol. 69v, and ms. no 1674 K of the Biblioteca General de Rabat, pp. 162-163.